Cold seeps are patchy ecosystems where methane or other hydrocarbons seepage through the sediment. Foraminifera are very common habitants of this environments. They have been studied extensively to explore the biological response to methane in cold seeps. The literature on the relationship between foraminifera and hydrocarbon escapes shows very different, seemingly contradictory answers. While some results suggest that methane does not influence foraminifera, other claim that it does. In this review we analysed the variables that influence the results of different investigations on foraminifera as possible indicators of methane seepage in different parts of the world. Our study is based on the existent literature on 21 cold seeps distributed throughout different latitudes around the world, depths ranging between 11 and 4822 m, in passive and active margins. The published results were analysed to show that the occurrence of species related to cold seeps depends on latitude and depth....